Manifestation

October 16th 

…the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up… [and] God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. 

Exodus 3:2,14 (NIV)

…Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Acts 7:55-56 (NIV)

 

The infinite, inaccessible, uncreated God, through His infinite and inconceivable kindness, embodied Himself, and, if I may say so, diminished Himself from His inaccessible glory, to make it possible for Him to be united with His visible creatures, such as the souls of saints and angels, that they might be enabled to partake of the life of God-head.

In the same way, the infinite and inconceivable God in His kindness diminished Himself, and put on this body, and gathered Himself in from the inaccessible glory. How much more cannot He, who is as He will and what He will, through His unspeakable kindness and inconceivable goodness change and diminish and assimilate Himself, embodying Himself according to their capacity in holy and worthy faithful souls, that He, the invisible, might be seen by them, He, the impalpable, be felt… that they might enjoy in real experience the goodness of the light?

All things are easy to Him, and He transforms Himself into any shape He chooses for the benefit of faithful souls. For the Lord embodies Himself even in meat and drink, as it is written in the gospel, ‘He that eateth this bread shall live for ever‘ to give the soul rest unutterable, and fill it with spiritual cheer ; for He says, ‘I am the bread of life.’ He embodies Himself in the drink of a spring of heaven, as He says, ‘Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, it shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life,’ and ‘We have all, it says, been made to drink the same drink.‘

To each of the holy fathers He appeared in the manner that pleased Him and was best for them, in one way to Abraham, in another to Isaac, another to Jacob, another to Noe, to Daniel, to David, to Solomon, Esaias, and each of the holy prophets. To each of the saints He appeared as He pleased, to give them rest and salvation and lead them to the knowledge of God. Everything is easy to Him that He chooses. As He pleases, He diminishes Himself by some embodiment, and transforms Himself to come under the eyes of those who love Him, manifesting Himself to those who are worthy in an inaccessible glory of light, according to His great and unspeakable love, and by His own power.

from (Pseudo-)Macarius’ Homily IV